RTÉ reporter Colm Flynn joined Seán O'Rourke on Wednesday morning to talk about a boy from Belarus who stayed with his family fifteen years ago. Banni was brought by a charity from an orphanage in a small village near Chernobyl to Ireland. Colm – who was then twelve – and his brother and sister were asked by their parents if they should take in an orphan and they said yes, not really thinking much about it. A month later, Banni, the boy from Belarus arrived. He was small for his age.

"He had been left in a cot for the best part of six or seven years."

As well as being physically under-developed, Banni had special needs. He couldn't walk, he couldn't talk. At first he seemed terrified in the Flynns' house, but after a few days, they started to see signs of Banni's personality. By the end of his month's stay in Ennis, Banni was having the time of his life. And so were the Flynn family: they felt like he was one of their own. So much so, that they decided that they wanted to adopt him.

"My parents were faced with a very tough decision at the end of the month. Do we send this boy back to an orphanage in Belarus? How could we do that to him?"

Banni stayed with the Flynn family for a year and a half as they went through the lengthy adoption process. He went to school in Ennis, everybody knew him, and he made great progress, even starting to walk.

"And one day, out of the blue, my mam got a phone call saying that Banni had to come back, for just a few weeks."

It was supposed to be a routine health check, but when Colm's mother went back with him to Belarus, it became apparent to her very quickly that Banni was back in Belarus for good.

Earlier this year, Colm travelled to Belarus with a camera crew to make a documentary for RTÉ 2's Reality Bites series, to try to find out answers to the questions that have stayed with him for fifteen years: why were the Flynns not allowed to adopt Banni? How could anyone in Belarus think he'd be better off in an orphanage than in a loving family home?

The best answer Colm got was from a lady who works in the orphanage and knows Banni well

Reality Bites: Finding Banni is on RTÉ 2 tonight at 9.30.

To listen to the interview from Today with Sean O’Rourke, click here.